The annual Resources in English Maintained Schools survey of 900 English maintained schools (597 primary and 303 secondary) reveals that actual budgets and budget forecasts continue to show an increase in almost all areas of expenditure.

The findings of the survey carried out by the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) suggest that primary school budgets have increased by 4.1 per cent to £1,022,000 and secondary budgets are up by 2.2 per cent to £4,502,000.

Forecasts predict a further increase of 2.3 per cent across all schools for 2015/16 resulting in a typical primary school seeing an additional £28,000 per annum and secondary schools expecting an extra £70,000.

In terms of the implications for resource expenditure, the sector has also seen an increase of 4.2 per cent in primary schools (£40,270 per school) and 4.4 per cent in secondary schools to an average of £171,520 per school.

At a time when the Government is working to reduce the current skills gap between the number of technology jobs and the people qualified to fill them, the research has revealed a significant increase in expenditure on technology, with schools currently realising an increase in their budgets of 6.6 per cent.

Caroline Wright, director of BESA said, “Our research shows schools have a positive outlook for school funding. However we must be mindful that this research was carried out before the Prime Minister’s announcement earlier this week that a Conservative Government would provide an extra £7 billion for extra places for rising numbers of pupils at a ‘flat cash’ rate that would reduce with inflation.”

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